Spending LESS $$ - Dishes, Pots & Pans, Bakeware

 

In my humble opinion very little of what is sold in stores these days is worth me spending money on.  Especially when it comes to items I use each and every day like my cookware and dishes.  I personally love the classics – Corelle, Pyrex, Revere Ware, Le Crueset, Club and cast iron.  They hold up and serve me well.

 

My kitchen is outfitted quite simply.  Over the years I’ve weeded out the cheap crap and things I no longer need, want, use or enjoy.  Anything broken beyond repair or never really worked that well to begin with has hit the road.  What I have kept is old fashioned, charming and built to last.  And it has.

 

I have a pretty good Pyrex collection from the 1940s and 1950s.  I’ve purchased most of them from eBay and some from thrift stores and antique shops.  I love them and I use them to bake with and for food storage.

 

After years of trying various cookware that claimed to be nonstick I got rid of it all.  I am blessed to have inherited a collection of Revere Ware pieces from to grandmothers and a great grandmother as well as some nice cast iron skillets.  My great grandmother’s old aluminum dutch oven remains my favorite and is the one I use most often.

 

At one point in my life I was a Pampered Chef consultant and I find their products are quite a good value for the money.  I still have and use their knives and pizza stones.  The egg slicer and dicer sees action routinely as well as the pizza cutter.  I still have the original set of wooden spoons, the offset spatula and the mini spatula too.  Their garlic press is still going strong after thirty years of use as is the ice cream scoop.

 

I love my Corelle dishes.  They are in the classic Frost White and go with pretty much everything.  I’ve added some patterned items over the years – Christmas Holly bread plates, floral luncheon plates, but for the most part I stick with basic white.  They are lightweight, durable, chip and break resistant and take up far less space that most other dishware.

 

The older stuff has more charm, is durable and it just suits me better.  I invested in some good solid pieces and then I was done.  I’m not wasting money replacing items that wear out or break.  Choosing wisely, I find I don’t need as many things when they can perform double duty.  By making the investment up front I’m saving money down the road as prices tend to increase and quality tends to falter.

 

What are some of you favorites in the kitchen?

 

What Am I Preparing For?

 

About a month ago a friend of mine looked at my LTFS and asked me “Is there something I need to know?”  In essence, she wanted to know if I was preparing for anything in particular and should she be doing the same.  Preparedness is a very personal journey.  We all prepare ahead for various reasons based on what is going on or could possible go on in our own lives.  For me, I’ve always tried to be as prepared as possible in case money got tight.  All my adult life I was always concerned about job loss or an unexpected expense that could turn my finances completely upside down.  When you are raising children that are totally dependent upon you for pretty much everything, it feels all that more real to you.  So what am I preparing for now?

 

I’m going to be completely honest with you.  The pandemic of 2020 has had an everlasting effect on me.  Watching grown adults in Fred Meyer strip the shelves bare and fight with each other over items the other one had in their heaping shopping carts was an eye opening experience I’ll not soon forget.  Care, concern and helping out your fellow man was completely out the window.  The “every man out for themselves” mentality was on full display and I found it beyond shocking.  I had never seen anything like it and I was not at all prepared for what I saw.  I was so disgusted with those people and what I saw that I left the store empty handed and went directly home.  I don’t ever want to experience that again.

 

What happened that day, March 13^th, 2020, scared me because I saw human beings acting in ways that were not very humane and I simply was not prepared for that behavior.  It proved to me what I feared the most about the human race.  Fear makes people into animals.  Since that day I decided to up my game so my family would be better protected.

 

Couple that previous experience with my own research into what constitutes as “food” these days has made me want to up my game even further.  I don’t want to eat chemicals, preservatives, additives, fillers, genetically modified, enriched, emulsified, reconstituted, flavored, dyed, artificial, synthetic, flavored, lab created or engineered anything.  I firmly believe that whenever you mess with the natural order of things you create more problems than you could ever possibly solve.  I also firmly believe that the mass consumption of the ultra processed grocery items that pass for “food” is what is causing the vast majority of health issues and the obesity, epidemic.  It would not surprise me if it also is a leading cause of most of the mental and developmental disorders we see today.  Our bodies were never designed to eat this stuff.

 

By growing, sourcing and preserving as much of my food as I can I feel like I can better control what is in it.  By keeping a good supply of that food on hand, both frozen and shelf stable, I can easily feed myself good nutritional meals.  By keeping a two year supply on hand at all times that I can rotate through and replace as I use it I feel I can safely weather whatever comes my way.

 

While I no longer fear job loss or financial worries while raising a family I do have concerns that at anytime we may face another pandemic (COVID is still around) and that our government would lock us down again.  To me that is a real possibility.  I have no control over the weather and it is reasonable to assume that we could have another snowpocalypse again.  An unexpected expense or illness is also one of those things I do like to try and prepare ahead for.  Anything can happen that could affect our supply chain – crop failure, trucking strikes, inclement weather, etc.  I have zero control over my fellow man so whatever might upset them and cause them to behave badly is something I hope to avoid as best I can.  If I need to stay home for a long period of time to stay safe and well, regardless of the circumstances, then I know that I can do that without a problem.

 

With all of that being said I do not go about my days fearing the worst.  I’d much rather prepare and not need it than need it and not be prepared.  I am always optimistic and hopeful that my fellow man will surprise me and that people will be able to learn from the past and be better for it.  I have faith in God and I pray that our future will be good no matter what the outcome of future events and that our leaders will lead and protect us rather than succumb to war and carnage.  I want to live out my days the best I can with little worry and much joy.  That is what I am preparing for.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 127

 

It has been very smoky here in Boise, Idaho as the wildfires have continued to burn and the smoke has settled into the valley.  The air quality is so poor that staying inside as much as possible is advisable.  My asthma has definitely been affected by this situation.  About a week ago I had planned, now that the temperatures are so much cooler and my broken toe has healed, to start back to riding the bus, but that did not happen.  We could sure use a torrential downpour to clear the air and put those fires out.

 

On Friday of last week the new Muscle Rack I had ordered arrived and I quickly got busy once I got home from work and got it put together.  I had bought one of these last year for my LTFS and it has performed so well that I did not hesitate to order another one.  After all of the home canning I’ve been doing this summer it was definitely needed so I wasn’t storing my jars in boxes on the floor long term.

 

Plenty of space for everything now

No more canned goods on the floor 😁

The arrival of the new rack snowballed into a complete room refresh.  I cleaned the entire room, moved some items, decluttered some stuff and then once the rack was assembled I did a complete reorganization of pretty much everything.  Thankfully, I had little bunny foo foo there to give me a hand to help me with the process and make sure I did a good job.  She really seemed to enjoy herself hopping around and inspecting everything I did.

 

Bunny approved!

Once I completed this big project I was able to run the little wire barrier and get it placed just the way Miss Daisy likes it.  The barrier keeps her away from anything she might be tempted to chew on and separates her from my LTFS area.  She gets the other side of the room as her domain so she has loads of space to run around in.  She is funny in that although she doesn’t like to be in a cage at all she does like me to place the barrier so she has a bit of a surround where she likes to lay in her favorite spot and often sleeps.  I made sure she still had her favorite spot just as she likes once all was said and done. As you can see she didn’t hesitate to take up residence right away.  She is such a cutie.

 

Italian style diced tomatoes for the shelf

On Saturday I woke up to overcast and smoky skies as well as a pile of ripe tomatoes on my kitchen counter so I got busy chopping them up and packing them into jars.  I was able to can six pints of diced tomatoes to add to the shelves for future recipes.  I am hoping to can a few more jars of diced tomatoes as well as some chile verde sauce before the end of summer.

 

Homemade granola

With the lower than usual temperatures that day I went ahead while my tomatoes were processing and turned on the oven to make a double batch of homemade granola.  I filled up a half gallon as well as a quart size mason jar so now I will have plenty to enjoy with my latest batch of homemade yogurt.  I can also use it with fruit or berries and the yogurt to make parfaits.

 

I stayed at The Excaliber
Vegas had a heat advisory and it was HOT!

These guys were pretty hot too 😆

Monday was Labor Day here in the U.S. and it also happened to be my birthday.  The big 6-0.  Back in May I went ahead and booked myself a birthday trip to Las Vegas including a ticket to see the Tournament Of Kings show which I’ve wanted to go to for ages.  It was GREAT and I had a blast!  I spent three days doing whatever the heck I felt like doing and just enjoying my own company.  I had quite a few friends offer to go with me, but I wanted to go it alone this time and just experience a vacation by myself.  I strongly recommend it!

 

I had to put most of the leftovers into the freezer
This thing is huge!

It was fun to go and it was nice to get home, especially when I saw all the birthday wishes waiting for me.  And a Costco cheesecake!  It doesn’t get much better than that!  I spent all of Thursday resting my dogs after putting in A LOT of steps in Las Vegas.  My legs were sore and my feet were killing me!  It was so worth it and I’m already planning my next adventure.  With so many options though it is hard to decide what’s next.  Any suggestions?

 

Giving Up Ultra Processed Foods

 

After my pantry challenge in July I had made my goal to have only good healthy whole foods inside my home.  Since then I began on the first day of August getting back to the basics and cooking the way I always used to.  Somehow during the pandemic and for a couple years after I had veered off course a bit, but I’m very happy that I’ve managed to get myself back on track.  I now have my pantry and freezers set up and stocked exactly how I want, the way they always used to be stocked.

 

I am buying the best quality foods I can afford

Instead of buying canned soups I make my own with wholesome ingredients
No bioengineered or GMO ingredients for me!

Early on in my adult life purchasing ultra processed items at the grocery was just not something I did very often, mainly because I couldn’t afford to buy that crap.  I had to make sure that I got the most bang for my buck so I bought actual food and then cooked almost all of our meals from scratch and I did it for years.  Decades in fact.

 

Beef stir fry on steamed rice

During July I ate far more ultra processed “food” items than I normally do and it made me feel sick and awful.  Toward the end of the month I was beginning to dread my meal options and even prepared and threw out one meal because I just couldn’t eat it.  At that point I gathered up everything that remained that was ultra processed and gave it all away.  I was DONE.

 

Lots of fresh fruits & vegetables on the menu these days

Egg salad on toasted whole grain bread

In short order I had begun to feel sluggish and bloated and ill.  I was even having digestive issues including stomach upsets and heartburn.  Fortunately, it didn’t take long to do a complete reversal.  I was amazed and relieved at just how quickly I was able to turn things around by simply preparing healthy and nutritious whole foods from scratch and drinking loads of filtered tap water.  Within twenty four hours I was feeling a ton better and after a week I felt absolutely AMAZING!  I was feeling like I was back to my old self.  My energy levels had rebounded and I was no longer feeling ill or sluggish.  I also lost a ton of water weight.  Even better, that previous month I had developed some brain fog and that had lifted as well.

 

Homemade yogurt & sliced peaches

I'm keeping my meals simple with simple ingredients

When I eat ultra processed foods I find they are not all that satisfying.  I was hungry all of the time and never felt full even though I had just eaten.  I also had some serious sugar cravings.  Now that I’ve been back to my regular REAL Food eating regimen I am much more satisfied, I eat less often and smaller quantities.  I also don’t have those awful cravings to eat sugar and junk that I know isn’t good for me.  My stomach issues have resolved themselves and I don’t retain fluids either.  Bonus – I get a lot more food for my money when I only buy the REAL stuff.  It also tastes a whole lot better.  REAL Food for the WIN!!!

 

The Next 20 Years!!!

 

My birthday was Monday and I am 60 years old!  Whoo hoo! Yes indeed!  Here I am!  I couldn’t be happier about it, really.  Go me!!!

 

As my birthday approached I had been doing a lot of thinking about how I want my future to look and how I plan to live out my remaining days on this earth.  It was a lot to think about, but it was also important for me to do this so I’m not allowing my life to just simply slip away.  I don’t want to look back and realize I didn’t do some of those important things I always wanted to.

 

One of the things I’ve really come to terms with this year is the fact that I’m entering the final volume of my live, with many chapters still left to be written, but the reality is that my time here is definitely limited.  With my particular health issues the odds are that twenty years from now I’m not going to be around anymore.  Yes, I may defy the odds, but the truth is that I probably won’t.  As with all of us, anything can happen and we truly do not know what the future holds, but I’m a realist.  Does this make me sad?  Depressed?  Upset?  Heck no!  It just means it’s time to get busy!  I have a lot to do!

 

I have a tremendous faith in God and I’m not at all afraid of what happens after we leave this life.  I also believe that I don’t control my departure date and that that it is completely up to Him.  I know beyond doubt that loved ones will be waiting for me when I get there and I can hardly wait to see them again, but in the meantime I need to be patient.  Right now, I still have work to do.

 

My job currently is to create and enjoy the best life I possibly can and to be the best version of myself in the process.  Everyday I’m working at it.  For the first time ever I’m living life on my own terms and truly enjoying the home I’ve made.  I work hard, but not too hard.  I’m constantly seeking ways to fulfill myself and be of service to others.  I’m finding my purpose.

 

When it comes to ME, well I’m doing much, much better.  I’m so much nicer, kinder and far less critical in how I think about myself.  If I make a mistake I’m quick to forgive myself and move on.  I treat myself the way I would a good friend.  I love myself on a daily basis.  I cherish each wrinkle and gray hair because I know I’ve earned every single one of them.  I see beauty in myself now as I age.  I no longer worry about how my body looks, but focus more on how it is performing and I take care of it.  I’ve given myself a well deserved place of importance and I treat myself accordingly.

 

My goal each day is to wake up happy, make my bed, drink my coffee, drink plenty of water, eat good food (the kind I want to eat – no more diets), pray, be grateful and count my blessings, have something to look forward to and, once again, only do the things I want to do.  At the end of each day I sit and reflect and enjoy the progress that I have made.  NO BAD DAYS.

 

As I move through each day to come I will filter out negativity and criticism.  I will limit my exposure to things that make me anxious or uncomfortable.  I will continue to be a positive, enthusiastic and motivated person.  I will consistently seek out the things I truly want and the things that truly matter.  I will live out each day the Lord sees fit to bless me with in a way that He is pleased with.  The next 20 years are going to be epic!

 

Happy Labor Day